Hi all!

I'm new here, so please bear with me. I'm about to buy a housing for my D70, but can't decide between Subal, Aquatica, or Sea & Sea. I got the chance to try the Sea & Sea recently and liked it...it was lightweight in the water (maybe a tad too much with the dome port), and held up great over 4 days of diving. The price is right, too. My only concerns are: it's depth rated to 180', and while I know that much of the best photography occurs closer to the surface and thus closer to natural light, I also would love to bring back pictures from some of my deeper wreck dives. The Aquatica is rated to 300'...can't remember about Subal, but I think it's something like that. I love the eyepiece on the Subal, but I hate the price. I've also heard that Subals can be hard to service. I already have Sea & Sea YS90DX strobes, and will need ports for whatever housing I buy. So, what have you guys tried and liked, and why????

Hi -

Ive used the Ike d70 housing and Nexus housing.. both are very nice and will deliver excellent pictures. I prefer the Nexus housing because size and weight are better and the aperture control knob is positioned better..

http://www.usanexus.com/d70.html

M.

Rand McMeins at www.greenwaterimages has the Subal I think a wetpixel user named "Gadi" may have the Sea and Sea.

I agree on the Nexus - I believe that their price/performance is the best in the industry. Subal does build wonderful housings, and the price will hurt initially, but remember you are buying into a system that hopefully you will use forever, so don't skimp. Nothing is more expensive than switching - been there/done that. And if Subal is within your budget you should handle the Seacam housings as well - they are a pleasure to shoot that you must experience to understand!

Regarding parts and service, no manufacturer I have used has been great on this front. There is always considerable lag time for parts especially. Light and Motion was the exception, but then the housing needed more service than the others I've owned. Frink Photo, Backscatter, UCP, and UW photo tech are great in communication and advice, but parts can be slow to come from the MFR. Fortunately the need for service in premium housings usually involves adjustment not part replacement.

Good luck

Kasey makes good points. I think service and parts depend on two things.

What continent your housing is made on. I live in Europe and favour European housings. If I lived in Australasia or N. America I would think differently.

And secondly if you have a good local dealer then point 1 is irrelevant. Most housings don't have that many different controls so the numbers of parts are pretty small. Also housings don't tend to go wrong. So I wouldn't worry too much about this. My Subals have never had a problem. All the controls have fitted from new - and nothing has ever worn out or had to go back for servicing. In fact I have never had a Subal serviced. And I take the odd picture...

Strobes are a different matter and my Subtronics have been back to Germany a couple of times!

A lot of people show off about great deals they get when buying kit online etc. But I continue to see people in the field struggling to set their camera up and dealing with issues that come from not going to a good dealer and getting a set up that is completely compatible and works for real world underwater photography.

There are plenty of good dealers here on Wetpixel. Use them - is my advice!

Alex

I've been using an Ike housing for about 6 months now with my d70. Aside from having a problem with the location of the sync cord plug in i have been very happy with my housing. I don't agree with the idea that your buying a housing to last forever. I think with the current speed of digital evolution you really should plan on quick obsolescence. I would love to buy a seacam or subal housing but buy the time I would get it up and running the system is ancient history....Save your money and go on a great photo trip.........By the way Ikes service is nothing short of fantastic

No one keeps housings forever anymore (although my F100 will be with me for a LONG time), but my post referred to "systems," as in the combination of housing, ports, sync cords, etc. All of these little items quickly add up and can exceed the cost of the housing or camera. They are not interchangeable with other brands, and have very poor resale value. My point was to pick a housing that you love, so that you can use the accessories for years to come. Getting into Subal or Seacam is costly, but once you have an investment in the ports and other accessories, the cost of a new camera and housing is not so bad. Nothing costs more than upgrading!

Thanks for the good advice everyone. I was looking through a SeaCam catalog the other day and *drool*. So nice. Part of me wonders though, do I really need the absolute top of the line housing?? I'm an amateur photographer, always will be. I have other diving interests than photography also that are quite costly themselves (ie tech diving...what's with me and expensive sports?) But, I do agree that when you start comparing housings and ports, syncs, strobes, etc that you are making an investment, and I would much rather make an investment that will last and hold up well to a lot of use.

One more specific question...when I used the Sea and Sea last weekend, I noticed myself having a little trouble with the aperature wheel being on the right side. I'm just used to it being on the front of the camera, I guess. I also noticed the camera getting "floaty" when I took my hand off the handle to adjust that knob...it was more prevalent with the dome port. I saw that the Subal has the aperature wheel on the front, in the same place as it is on the camera, which looks quite nice. My only question then is...is it difficult to manipulate this wheel, due to the fact that the housing is wider than the camera? My hands aren't that big, and I wonder if my fingers could reach and if this would pose more problems than the side wheel of the Sea and Sea???

Maybe not last forever, but you should get a few years out of it. MOST people aren't necessarily going to get better pics out of the "Latest & Greatest" digital sysytem. It is all in the talent of the shooter. I have seen some recent pics shot with an Oly 5050 that were better than MOST pics I have seen out of DSLRs.

FWIW, I have the Nexus D70 and love it. I plan on keeping it a few years until my talent catches up with my gear :-).

Dave

Hi speedybeetle,

Ryan, at Reef Photo, suggested I replace the stock Subal handles with Handles from ULCS. The ULCS handle mount is adjustable, in (nearer the housing) or out (further from the housing). This allows you to adjust the handle to the perfect control spot for your fingers. The aperture wheel can then be easily rotated with your index finger. The shutter wheel with your thumb.

The Subal is slightly negative with the 8" dome. More so with a flat port. I find it very easy to "One hand" the housing with any port attached. YMMV.

Rand

On my D70 and Nexus housing I switched functions of the command dials so that the aperture is controlled by my thumb. I can hang on to both handles, and rotate apt. knob to bracket shot very quickly. This knob is spun toward or away from you which is different than most housing manufactures have setup..

Rand's pictures, however, are way better than mine and I can only attribute this to the superiority of his Subal housing versus my Nexus....)


M.

Hi folks,
I've been to the boat show in Duesseldorf/Germany in Jan and took a close look to the Subal housing as well as to the Sealux housing for my D70.
Those were my favorites here in Europe.

Just the great viewfinder on the sealux is a few hundred $ cheaper as on the Subal and this difference in price is the same on dom ports and housing....

The sealux housing does' t look as sexy as the subal, but the price performance is really good.

When I hold the sea&sea housing in my hands I felt like holding a massive box in front of me. Did not really satisfy me as well as their high price.

For me the sealux was my favorite choice and I can't wait to take it down.

Greetings,

Chris

Hi,

I purchased the Sea & Sea housing for my D70 after lots of thought and advice from various other photographers. I have only dove it four times so far but have enjoyed every dive!

I have experienced the problem of the aperature wheel not working as efficiently as I would like. I haven't switched the two wheel functions yet, but am considering it. My only other problem is that I cannot see the settings in the top window as well as I wish I could. Especially the aperature. Someone reminded me that I can see that information in the viewfinder and the last couple of dives have been less frustrating. :-)

I have found the rig to be negative with the flat port and 60 mm lens. I have not used it with a dome port, yet. It is smaller than my old Ikelite housing (F2) and easy to handle below and above water. The shutter release works great and I can reach it without taking my hands from the handles. I recommend the gears so you can switch from auto to manual focus. In low light and close focus shots this is very useful.

Hope this helps.

Kathy

I agree with many of the posts, there are many good comments...

Someone mentioned the position of the sync cord on the Ike housing, it was because the sync cord comes out of the back I decided to go with the Aquatica and am very happy with it.

Happy diving!

You know, no one has mentioned the total secure feeling every ikelite housing owner has, when they finish assembing the housing, and

YOU CAN SEE EVERY SEAL, AFTER PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER!!!

I've used the ike n90s housing since about 93, and their canon G2 housing since 02, and never had any problems, or leaks, or mental stress. I'd always be worrying about pinched or extruded o-rings, if I could not see how they are seated.

I think the ikelites blow away the rest, in value for money, and the service, is stunning, depending only on mailing/shipping times for where you are.

Just my experience.
Don

Sync cord out the back is my least favorite feature, but deemed necessary for addition of the iTTL conversion circuitry that will be available probably during April. Otherwise, troublesome contacts would be required between back and front of housing, or associated problems with a sync cord tethering the two together. My opinion is ten thousand dollars will not buy a more capable, dependable and better handling system than these new dSLR housings............

Ike-

Can you make a dual synch cord with a 90 degree bend? just so the cord does not stick straight out the back? When you are on a Panga jumping waves and your camera is bouncing around these cords tend break at flexure point near connector... I used to reinforce cord with quick ties and duck tape to withstand the abuse.

M.

I have 2 local buddies that shoot the IKE 300D housing. I must say I cringe every time I find their housings resting on the back plate and bending the sync cords. Surprisingly, the cords have held up OK, but it sure looks like a weak point.

The other thing I wish the Ike's had a more substantial shutter actuator. Something meatier with a spring loaded feedback would be a great enhancement.

All in all, it is tough to go wrong with any of these housings. Personally, I just wish I had started with the top of the line because it would've been far cheaper in the long haul.

A lot of people here will tell you that the housing is just a box to keep your camera dry, so get the most economical one you can. I would've agreed with this before I bought my Seacam housing. I can tell you unequivocally, however, that I am taking better pictures with my Seacam than I could with my prior housings. Part of the reason is the big viewfinder allows me to compose much more precisely, and to experiment more with DOF rather than trying to maximize DOF to make up for uncertain focus. The accessibility of camera controls has also freed me to experiment with different methods of shooting - for example the MSC switch on my Aquatica housing wasn't reliable so I always picked M or S before the dive and never changed after. Also, the Seacam allows me to actuate focus lock with my rt thumb, and my left thumb actuates focus points. These sound like minor issues, but even I could never anticipate that it would change the way I shoot. Don't underestimate a well executed housing.

Kasey

Concern of right angle plug is providing easy ability to rotate the plug, twisting the internal connector wires. Cords sticking straight out the back is lousy, but remains most trouble free choice with all considerations, requiring just sensible care by consumer. The opposite of a wife unplugging the vacuum cleaner from across the room............?

I also use ULCS handles with a Subal housing. The price for having this flexibility in positioning handles is that they must be mounted on the ULCS tray, which bolts to the bottom of the housing. The ULCS handles themselves weigh considerably more than the Subal handles, plus the tray (a cut-out) bar - the sum of it is that this adds quite a bit of weight to the rig, which can be an issue for flying and also if you have to shlep the housing any distance on foot.

There is another very important plus with using the ULCS handles on a tray, however. If you're shooting wide angle, you may well be using a 12-24 DX (or the 17-35) lense with Subal's big domeport. - which itself is one of the best reasons to go Subal, IMHO). If so, you need to use a 50 or 52 mm extension ring on the dome. The big dome port plus extension ring together make up a considerable volume, which translates into a lot of buoyancy forward, which tends to make the housing want to rotate towards a dome-up orientation. I found this very tiring on the wrists after a number of dives, and it was very difficult to "one-hand" the housing. Keep in mind that with the Subal handles, you will be attaching your strobe arms to the top of the housing, so the strobe arms and strobes will contribute to the problem.

Using the ULCS tray and handles puts some additional weight down low, and also positively changes the balance of the entire rig. The axis of rotation moves lower to near the bottom of the housing. The upshot is that this significantly reduces the "torque" of the turning moment I mentioned, making the housing much easier to handle. For me, that's worth the additional overall weight. If I were shooting the 10.5, it might be worth going back to the Subal handles, but changing handles seems a bit too much bother.

Another (less important) factor is that moving the strobe arms to the tops of the handles keeps the top of the housing clear and makes it easier to look at the data window and access the controls there.

Frogfish

Hi Robert,

Most of my customers are actually using the TR-SC brackets, picture attached.

While I admit that the sync cord placement on the SLR-DC case from Ikelite was not where I would have put it (but I would have never decoded i-TTL either, proving who knows best), I have heard of no broken sync cords.

I have heard of dm's picking up housingls the same way Ike's wife unplugs her vacuum, though...

I tried the TR-SC brackets on my Subal 20D housing while standing at Backscatter's store counter yesterday. I found them marginally better than the stock handles as they allowed slightly better access to the shutter release. I decided they weren't worth $140 (including padded handles) at this point. My wife, with shorter fingers than mine, might have chosen differently. That money was better directed toward a Fisheye Fix Light, which I thoroughly enjoyed diving with yesterday by the way :-)
I have heard however that the ULCS TR-SC bracket setup is more advantageous to the D70 user than the 20D user due to control positions. I suspect they would be worth the cost for speedybeetle, assuming he/she decides to go with a Subal.

-Brad

I kno that you already bought your housing but I just wanted to post my latest expirience with Ike's company. Last week I sent back my D70 housing, Failed dual sync cord and a ds125 batteery pack that had some corrosion on the charger connector. I had sent the housing back to have the sync cord relocated to a less offensive place.

Yesterday I recieved a call from Bob Swanson regarding my parts. He told me that the sync cord had flooded and was being replaced and that my battery pack was also going to be replaced. I told them in my cover letter that I had plugged the charger in with wet hands and accepted full responsibility for the damage..I was told that both items were going to be replaced at no charge to me...I have had ikes products for about two years and have never had anything but absolutely fantastic service from him and his company...

As far as the housing /sync cord issue I was a little surprised by some of Bob's responses....I told him that I believed that the sync cord failed due to the constant bending of the cord when my regulator pushes against it so that I can see through nikons micro view finder. It pushes hard enough to purge my reg and I also had to buy a new mask to keep it from being flooded by the cord. I guess I'm the only guy who looks through his right eye with a d70 housing because he told me that he has never heard of these problems before. He also told me that there is really no other place to put the sync cord plug on the housing...Even tho I am dissapointed that they cannot change that location of the sync cord I was really suprised to learn that I am apparently the only person with this problem. Is there any one else out there who has similar experiences with the sync cord or is my face just weird?

when I shot film I had nikon's sport finder on my camera and could easily compose at arms length....Guess thats why this never came up before....I really like Ikes products and especially his service but this is becoming a real issue for me.

I use my left eye and don't have any issues with the sync cord.....occassionally my regulator will purge if I hit the back of the housing, but it's not the sync cords fault....just my bad depth perception?

Karl

Hi,

If Bob said that, it's obvious he doesn't read Wetpixel. Ike does, and he's aware of the complaints about the bulkhead location. I've "counseled" him on it often enough... You should not have to use your left eye as that is just not natural for 99% of users.

Glad to hear that Ike's customer service is so good, but it's a shame that you had to use it.

Cheers
James

James, no big deal but I and quite a few other people I know shoot with the left eye. Not bringing this up to be argumentative but more a point of interest. It was discussed a few months ago on DDN. Dominant eye is usually the one with the better vision.

Of course with the Subal eyepiece, the regulator interference becomes a non issue anyway. So I can switch back and forth if one eye gets tired...

Rand

Rub it in about your viewfinder, Rand.
My D2 housing hasn't got one at the moment - I think that there is a bit of a supply issue in Austria.
Alex

Damn, i want an eyepiece like that....
Any idea if Aquatica is going to go with one like that?
Last time i spoke with Blake he said no but that was 5 months ago so maybe he has changed his mind????

M

Apparently mine will work with that housing too so.... 8)

Mike: I believe they are working on one or at least considering/discussing it with prospective users.

Cheers
James

Like Mike, I'd be so happy to have such a viewfinder on my Aquatica!
I think that all the Aquatica's owners should try to ask Blake so that he might decide to do it faster. I'm sure we are plainty of A70 owners that would be glad to have such a piece.

Blake, what's up???!!!

Michel

Blake I would definately second that!!

I also use my left eye when I shoot with my Ike housing. That being said I have a contact in my right eye for distance vision and use my left eye for close up work. I have a dual synch cord and the cords are much longer than the single one that I originally had. It is an Ike to S&S cord. It never gets in the way on my rig. The only request I have is a larger dome for the housing.

Tony